For about 92 years, the divers of La Quebrada in Acapulco have thrown themselves from the cliffs into a narrow inlet of the Pacific, roughly five times a day. They are one of Mexico’s best-known sights, yet they have rarely been asked to tell their own story. Mexico News Daily reports that a short film which does exactly that has now won an Ariel, the country’s equivalent of an Oscar.
Las Voces del Despeñadero, or Voices from the Abyss, runs for 23 minutes and was directed by Víctor Rejón and Irving Serrano. It took Best Documentary Short at the 68th Ariel Awards in Mexico City on 3 October, having already won the same category at the HollyShorts festival in Los Angeles. There are no tourists in it. Instead the divers talk about their families, their fears and their hopes, and recite the poem that gives the film its title.
Rejón wants the community to see itself on screen and young people to carry the tradition on. Gustavo Gatica Goroztieta, who leads the divers’ association, calls the youngest members the seed his generation leaves behind.
Source: Mexico News Daily